A Crushing Revelation
by Lunar-L
Summary: Adrien has often been confused by Marinette's odd behaviour around him and Ladybug can tell when something is on Chat's mind so he decides to confide in her as vaguely as possible. Marinette might not recognise herself but she definitely recognises the signs of a girl in love. How does Adrien react to the new realisation that one of his closest friends likes him?
1. Adrien is Confused

**Adrien is Confused**

"Sorry but I don't do autographs at school."

The girl he was speaking to looked a bit ruffled by his answer and her face turned from a pink hue to a dark and ugly crimson. He gave her his best apologetic smile and continued on his way to class as quickly as he could. It seemed every time he thought he'd seen the last of his fan base while at school, they emerged from the shadows and insisted he let them admire him. He glanced back down the stairs to see the girl which had asked him and saw she now had her bottom lip stuck out, pouting angrily, her friends gathered round to console her and probably bad mouth him. He felt a little guilty, but school was the one time of day when Adrien got to feel like a real person instead of some _thing_ to be polished to perfection and idolised. He turned back fully as he reached the top of the stairs and nearly collided head-on with Sabrina who dropped the folder and book she had been carrying as she startled.

"Sorry," he said as he bent to retrieve the items for her.

"Sabrina! What are you doing? Be careful or you'll knock Adrien down the stairs! Why are you always so clumsy?"

"It was my fault Chloe," he said, standing to face her as she moved closer to them, "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Aww, Adrikins, you don't have to make excuses for her," she told him as she suddenly linked her left arm into his right, completely ignoring the way he tensed at the contact, "I just hope none of my assignment got lost when she dropped everything."

"It's all here Chloe." Sabrina said, waving the folder in the air and flinching slightly as it was snatched from her hands.

"Good."

Chloe led the way to class after that, Sabrina trailing just behind them. She discussed the upcoming spring line Adrien's father was working on but didn't really pause long enough for him to give any substantial opinions on the matter. Instead he defaulted to basic agreement or disagreement on her speculations as he knew she preferred. He was well aware of how self obsessed Chloe could be but he had always supposed that was just how she managed the lack of any real attention from her father. Everyone coped differently after all. He didn't mind it too much as long as he spent his time with her in small intervals. She _was_ his oldest friend and he doubted she was fully aware of what her behaviour was like for everyone. He liked to think that given time she could change.

As they entered the classroom, the girls moved away to sit in their usual seats and Adrien slid into his own, giving a fist bump to a smiling Nino who was already seated.

"Hey dude, how was fencing yesterday? I overheard there was some kind of drama?"

"Nah, not really. Someone just spilled soda on his uniform and M. D'Argencourt gave a really over the top lecture to us all about it."

The two lapsed into trivial conversation as the classroom began to fill up and Adrien felt himself begin to relax somewhat from the guilt over the earlier autograph request. Nino was trying to explain some filtering technique he'd used on his latest music mix (which in all honesty he didn't understand _at all_ but Nino seemed pretty excited about it) when Alya and Marinette walked into class. Both boys gawked at the latter as she made her way to her seat a whole five minutes before class was due to start.

"Yes, the rarely seen early bird, the _Marinette_ " Alya said in her best nature documentary voice, "seen for possibly the first time this semester!"

"Alya!" Marinette blushed at her best friends words but smiled too, "You practically dragged me out of bed this morning. Of course I was going to be on time when you held my bed covers hostage."

Adrien watched the girls continue to bicker good naturedly as they passed by him and let out a snort of laughter when Nino asked if Marinette was responsible for the bruise forming on Alya's forehead.

"She's not actually, my little sister tossed a wooden brick at me last night but I wouldn't put it past this one-" she stuck out her thumb in Marinette's direction while the girl in question stuck out her tongue in response, "You know, taking Marinette from her bed is like separating Adrien from sweets. You could lose a finger."

"Hey!" Adrien protested with false offence in his voice, "You try living on a model's diet and then see how you react when I try to take your weekly Madeleine from your hand."

"I'd say 'you don't need it, you're sweet enough,' but I've heard your potty mouth Agreste. You're anything but sweet ."

"I'll say it again. You. Tried. To. Steal. My. Cookie."

"Guys! Guys!" Nino interjected, "Marinette and I are starting to feel left out here. We wanna fight too!"

All four of them burst out laughing at that and Adrien turned to look at Marinette now that he'd realised she hadn't said anything for a while. Her eyes widened a little and she glanced down at her desk when he began to speak.

"Did she really steal your covers?" he asked her, "That's brutal."

"Um, y-yeah," she stammered, her cheeks turning a rosy hue, "B-but, I could sleep c-competitively. Like for France in the Olympics."

She smiled and looked up to meet his eyes again. He was a bit relieved, she always seemed to have trouble looking in his direction when he started speaking to her. He returned the smile and gave a exaggerated sigh.

"I wish I could. Nathalie wakes me at 6am every morning. Even on the weekend."

"But dude, you miss class almost as much as she does. Just Friday neither one of you turned up for Biology. How do you manage it? Where do you even go?" Nino asked.

"Hmm," Alya placed her hand on her chin and looked between himself and Marinette as if she was trying to work out some conspiracy theory they were involved in, "he has a point. You always seem to miss class. At the same time. Is there a reason for that?" She smirked and wiggled her eyebrows at him expectantly but for the life of him Adrien had no idea what she was trying to say. He furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to enquire but wasn't quite sure how to start.

Meanwhile, Marinette had flushed scarlet so rapidly he considered asking if she was feeling light-headed at all. Still unsure what was going on, Adrien closed his mouth and turned as he heard Nino speak up.

"Alya, dude. Quit it. You'll kill her and I don't wanna have to explain the body to Mlle. Bustier or M. Clueless here."

Adrien was about to ask what he had meant by that comment when the teacher in question walked in and closed the door behind her.

He would ask Nino later but he had a feeling this was going to be one of those things his friend took strange pleasure from keeping him in the dark about.

He was sure he would be enjoying the view if he wasn't thinking so hard. He'd come to Le Jardin du Luxembourg for the impressive greenery. It made the air smell cool and clean and living in such a large city had made him appreciate real fresh air when he had access to it. He was perched atop the Palace staring out at the lawns and the statues surrounding the Octagonal basin, the Eiffel Tower on his right in the distance. In past months he'd decided this was one of his favourite spots just for looking at the beauty of Paris. And yet he was unable to stay in the present long enough to appreciate it.

He'd been thinking a lot during class today and only his well practised mask of fake interest had saved him from being noticed and scolded for not paying attention. He was still thinking now. He often did when he got confused or embarrassed by something. A social cue he had missed or a misunderstanding. Sometimes even just over-enthusiasm he had shown for something no one else found remotely interesting. Or Marinette.

When he'd first started school he'd gotten caught up over-thinking about each of his new friends. Did Alya really mean something she'd said or was that just her way of teasing him? Why was Nino so concerned by his dad's behaviour? Why did Kim and Alix hang out together when all they said were such obnoxious things to each other?

He was a quick learner though and he had picked up a lot in his first couple of weeks about how everyone's personalities differed and how it effected their interactions. Alya was usually teasing as long as her voice stayed soft, whereas if it got sharp it meant she was pissed. Nino genuinely cared about him (that one had been more of a shock for him than he'd have liked to admit to himself) and wanted him to be treated more fairly. Kim and Alix thrived on the competition they got from one another and being rotten was just how they bantered.

Marinette though. He still didn't understand her. If he ignored his own interactions with her, he would confidently say she was outgoing and energetic. She made friends easily and stood up for anyone treated unfairly. She was silly in a fun sort of way. That was the Marinette he wanted to hang out with. That was who he'd thought he'd made friends with in his first week. But she almost immediately changed around him. And that was what bugged him; it was just around him.

Whenever he tried to talk to her or they hung out as a group she got all shy and quiet and she often found excuses not to keep eye contact with him. Her stammering had almost all gone now, except for moments when she was caught off guard, but she had never stammered with anyone else that he'd ever seen.

For a while he'd thought that maybe she didn't like him regardless of what he'd thought after he'd explained the chewing gum incident. But she seemed happy enough to spend time with him, sometimes even just the two of them, although her weird behaviour seemed even more exaggerated when Alya and Nino weren't around. And she'd gotten him a Christmas present. You didn't do that when you didn't like someone, right?

Was she somehow embarrassed by him? He had no idea what he could have done that she found embarrassing to be reminded of but she did tend to act almost mortified whenever Alya pointed out she was going to be hanging out with him. It was like Alya knew something he didn't. In fact, it was like everyone did and he was just so confused. He'd been confused ever since that first week. And it was upsetting him that he was so socially incompetent that he didn't understand.

He gave a start as a hand landed on his shoulder, twisting round suddenly but relaxing as he spied the person that had drawn him out of his thoughts.

"Ladybug," he sighed.

"Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to startle you. You looked a million miles away. Are you okay?"

"Just thinking," he told her with a half formed smile and he was sure his face gave away that there was more to it than that. "Why are you here anyway?" he asked, his face forming a half frown, "We're not due to meet for-" he opened his staff face to show a digital clock glowing green in the semi-darkness, "-HALF AN HOUR AGO!? Oh God I'm sorry, I totally lost track of time. How'd you find me?"

Ladybug raised her hand, which held her yo-yo and waved it at him, brow raised in a teasing manner, a half smirk on her face.

"We have GPS on each other while we're transformed, Kitty."

"Oh. Right. Forgot." His smile turned sheepish this time and he rubbed at the back of his neck absent-mindedly, desperately trying to ignore the look she was directing at him. The look that said she knew something was troubling him and that she was going to find out tonight if it killed her.

He turned his head away slightly and his eyes moved wildly, trying to find something in their immediate area to use as a topic change. He turned back when he heard her sigh, sure she was rolling her eyes.

"What's wrong?" she deadpanned.

"What!?" he said, and grimaced as his voice cracked, "There's nothi-" He stopped mid-word as he caught the way she was looking at him and realised it wasn't working, "There's just a girl at school I don't get. That's all," he sighed.

"Oh, a giiiiirl, Kitty?" Ladybug looked like this was the best piece of news she'd heard all week and he had to correct her assumptions before she started some very uncomfortable teasing. He avoided acknowledging the stab of pain he felt at her complete lack of jealousy over her misunderstanding.

"Hey, it's not like that. She just acts super-different around me. Nothing like how she acts with everyone else. It's...odd."

Odd didn't even begin to cover it. He was so lost when it came to what was going on with Marinette that he would consider carrying a map to school if it'd help him.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked, sitting down next to him on the ledge, "Careful with the details though. Nothing too personal."

He glanced at her and considered. Maybe she could help. After all she was a girl, like Marinette, and he assumed she was about the same age as them. Maybe she'd know some key social factors he'd missed because she probably had a normal life full of peer interaction, unlike him.

"Hmm," he started, "Okay, where to start? Okay...Okay...Okay, so she's this really confident girl most of the time. Tells off bullies, goes after what she wants, sticks to her guns and so on. I've seen her talking with other people and-" he waved his hand about vaguely as he paused to search for the right words, "-and she's this really cool, fun person." He found himself smiling when he thought back to some of their more positive interactions from recently. "She has all these really cool hobbies and she's totally dedicated to...um, this thing she likes and wants to make a career in when she's older." He wanted to add that it was fashion she liked and that she was a big fan of his father but he knew there was no way to make that obscure enough to tell Ladybug.

"Okay..." she said eager for him to continue.

"Well she was like that with me when I first met her, I um, I kinda pissed her off by accident," his cat ears flattened and he grinned sheepishly. "So she was totally okay with putting me in my place and making sure I knew what she thought of me. I thought when we got it all worked out that things would be better, you know? But now she's nothing like that."

"What? Pissed off at you?"

"No. She hangs out with me in groups and stuff and even just the two of us a couple of times, but now she...she...acts weird." He had absolutely no idea how else to put it.

"How weird?"

"It's like she freaks out or something if I'm nearby. She does this flailing thing with her arms-" he demonstrated vigorously, "if she's caught off guard, she mixes her words up – I'm telling you Milady she has said some of _the most_ nonsensical things I've ever heard. And she used to stammer at me. A lot. That one's not so bad any more though. We've even been known to have one or two short conversations," he added humorously.

"Hmm." Ladybug was looking at him out of the corner of her eye with a barely suppressed smirk on her face.

"What?" he asked, eye narrowed.

"Nothing," she said and the smirked formed fully as she exaggeratedly shook her head in mock innocent protest, "And she's not like this with anyone else? No other boys? It's not like she acts like this with say, just blonde people or-"

"No, just me. As myself. I've met her as Chat. She's just normal around Chat."

Unknown to him Ladybug was laughing internally at her partner's obvious obliviousness to such a normal thing. It was pretty evident to her what was going on and as much as she wanted to draw this out and tease him, she knew she should probably show him some mercy, for now.

He looked up at the sound of her chuckle and felt his confusion increase. What about this could possibly be funny?

"Oh Kitty," she said turning to look at him with a sort of pitying humour in her eyes, "you really don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?"

"Why she acts that way. Why people in general would act that way around one person and one person only."

"Uh, no," he said rolling his eyes at her, "That's why I'm confused."

Ladybug held her smirk and sighed, putting her face in her hand for a moment before lifting it again and giving him a piercing look that said to take note of what she said next, that it would be important.

"She has a crush on you."


	2. Adrien is in Denial

**Adrien is in Denial**

" _She has a crush on you."_

"Wut."

" _She has a crush on you."_ Ladybug's words continued to echo in his head.

Chat stared blankly at her with wide-eyed confusion. His eyes burned but he couldn't quite bring himself to close them. He searched for something to say but all of the _eloquent_ words his brain usually contained seemed to slip away from him as he grasped out at them, like tadpoles swimming hastily from the net that was intended to catch them.

"Uh sorry, did you say...did... **WUT!?** "

He finally blinked as Ladybug began to guffaw at his lack of articulation and slowly came back to himself a little. He snapped his gaping mouth shut and his eyes narrowed. He wrinkled his nose as he tried to think of a good retort for such an obvious joke as it seemed as if she was just trying to make fun of him. After all there was no way Marinette was crushing on him. That just...wasn't possible. This wasn't his Lady's usual brand of teasing though and he couldn't help feeling a little annoyed by her laughter.

"I said," Ladybug said interrupting his thoughts, "she has a crush on you. It's so obvious, don't tell me you haven't even considered it."

"She does not have a crush on me," he huffed at her and gave her the dirtiest look he could summon, which wasn't all that convincing. Despite how she was always accusing him of being an alley cat, he was actually pretty pathetic at throwing shade."She _can't_ ," he insisted when she didn't seem all that convinced, "she doesn't act anything like the other girls who _do_ have crushes on me."

Her eyes sparkled frighteningly and a teasing smirk returned to her laughter flushed face. Oh no.

"Oh, so there's more than one girl you know who likes you? With _your_ horrible flirting and terrible puns? Really?"

"Hey!" he said indignantly, "I'll have you know that my devilishly handsome face has many admirers. And my flirting and puns are a meow-sterpiece!"

She scoffed at that and pulled her legs up from where they were dangling over the edge of the building to sit facing him, crossing her legs once she was comfortable.

"So how do your _admirers_ act then?" she cocked her head to the side as she awaited his answer, humour evident in her expression.

"Why?" he asked hopefully, "Jealous?"

"Dream on Minou _._ " She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly and dropped the smirk to give him a confused half-frown. "If you're so sure this girl doesn't like you because she doesn't act like the others, it makes me wonder how the other girls act. I mean, if it's made you so _oblivious_ -" she raised an eyebrow and her mask creased with the movement, "-to teenage girls and how they usually act around boys they like, it's got to be good right?"

"Oh." he mirrored her and raised an eyebrow back in her direction, but he guessed there was no harm in telling her about Chloé or Lila, as long as names weren't mentioned. They were the only two with crushes on him who had actually spoken to him for longer than about five minutes. He was sure there was plenty other girls who were crushing on him from his magazine spreads but he didn't know any of them personally. They probably just thought they knew him from interview bios and whatever crap his publicist put on his official social media accounts. To be honest, he found that a little creepy.

"Um..." he cleared his throat loudly as he began to feel really awkward. He was discussing other girls who definitely liked him with the love of his life. He glanced down at his knees and scratched at the back of his neck. He gave his leg an experimental kick over the edge as he considered how to phrase his thoughts. God this was weird.

"Well, they-they're all over me." There. That was the gist of it wasn't it? But she was just staring at him, waiting for more. He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the heat he could feel across his cheeks. "They get all touchy-feely. Linking arms with me, grabbing my hand when they talk. Obvious flirting, like heavy flirting. Pet names for me-" he grimaced and glanced up to meet her eyes nervously when he heard her chuckle, "And getting in my personal space. And it's pretty obvious someone likes you when they make a big deal about wanting to kiss you. In front of everyone." He added the last part as an afterthought as he remembered Chloé's many attempts.

It was that same last part that had Ladybug scowling angrily. It made his heart soar sweeping into his throat like a wave had engulfed it. He wondered if this was finally a sign of the green eyed monster? Was she finally starting to get annoyed by the idea of someone else trying to lock lips with him? He smiled toothily and watched her lips purse as she prepared to speak. Her screwed up face reminded him of when Plagg got a particularly foul piece of Camembert too close for comfort.

Meanwhile Ladybug's mind was whirling unpleasantly. She wasn't liking the sound of this. To her it seemed like these girls were just trying to show Chat off as some kind of trophy, or make it hard for him to say no when so many people would be there judging his rejection.

"That sounds more like them trying to guilt you into a kiss than genuinely caring about you as a person," she said, "That's not very nice. Most girls might think of getting a kiss as a big deal but they'd try to downplay it in case they scared you off."

He frowned at her words and tilted his head in confusion, cat ears pricking up like a curious kitten. That definitely didn't sound like something Chloé or Lila would do. They didn't seem to know how to do anything without drawing a crowd. They were 'centre of attention' type girls.

"Really?" he asked, "Not in my experience."

She glanced down and gently bit at her bottom lip as she contemplated how to explain what she was thinking. His eyes immediately caught the motion and stayed rooted to her mouth, eyes mesmerised and chest tightening. He sensed her movement a half-second before she looked at him and glanced up, not wanting to be caught staring.

"Chat, I think you're right in that these girls do like you...but I think you're overlooking that there's other ways for girls to act when they have a crush too. These girls sound like they're very confident when it comes to, well, acting on their feelings. Not all girls are like-"

"But the other girl," he exclaimed suddenly, "the one who acts weird, she's really confident!" His voice had become desperate and high pitched again. He could sense how serious she was now and the thought had him somewhat panicked. There was no way Marinette liked him. Not someone he was such good friends with. None. Right?

"Around everyone except you!-" she extended her index finger and gently prodded him in the chest as she spoke, "She doesn't have a handful of people she acts differently around from what you've told me. She's just insecure about how she acts around you. The one person it matters most that she looks good around. It makes her shy and unable to think straight. And the more she likes you the odder she'll act."

Chat stared straight ahead, unblinking and wondered if his stomach had jumped off the Palace without him. Maybe it had leapt up into his chest instead? Was he still breathing? He had to remember to breathe. He felt light-headed. This couldn't be true. Marinette...had a crush...on _him? Marinette!?_ Eyes wider than they'd ever been, he launched himself to his feet and took a step away from his Lady in disbelief, nearly stepping to the wrong side and slipping off the edge of the Palace in the process.

"No! No-no-no-no-no! That's not possible!" he told her, hands coming up to grab fistfuls of his hair right beneath his cat ears, "She doesn't act like she likes me, she acts more like she's embarrassed! She doesn't want to spend time with me on her own, it makes her freak-" his hands dropped as did the pitch of his voice as he started to come to a shocked realisation- "ooouuuuut."

He glanced at Ladybug as he dragged out the last low word of his outburst and recognised the sympathetic look she shot him as one she often used whenever he was feeling down about himself and needed the comfort. He shrieked embarrassingly, a hand flying to his mouth to smother the sound. He could feel his cat ears and tail standing perfectly upright and shuddering. He started to wobble, his knees feeling like they were about to buckle beneath him.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Just...need a minute," he told her, both hands suddenly covering his face, "Maybe a week."

He abruptly remembered how Nino had acted when he'd had admitted to having a crush on Marinette. He'd found it strange but funny that his friend had suddenly been too frightened to go anywhere near her without lots of prompting and had completely lost his ability to talk coherently around her. Why had he never managed to make a connection between his best friends behaviour towards someone he knew he liked and a girl who acted the same way towards him? And oh God, that day, she'd seemed super excited when he'd asked her to meet them at the zoo on Nino's behalf. And she'd seemed very eager to know where he was when Nino had shown up alone. Had she thought _he_ was asking her? Her behaviour was slowly starting to make sense a little bit at a time.

Marinette liked him. Marinette _liked_ him.

She always seemed embarrassed to him because she was always blushing. She was blushing because she liked him. She freaked out about being left alone with him. She was freaking out because she liked him. She stammered and mixed up her words. _Because she liked him._ Marinette had feelings for him, and apparently _it had been obvious._

He let out a whine. "I'm such an idiot."

He dropped his hands, shoulders drooping with the movement. He slumped back over towards the edge and sat himself down cross-legged in front of Ladybug, head bowed low. All those weird comments Alya and Nino always made that he didn't understand were suddenly making a whole lot of sense. They knew. And they knew that he had no idea. They'd been teasing Marinette and they'd done it right in front of him.

"So...just how weird does she act? Scale of one to ten?"

Wow. That was a pretty open question. He lifted his head a tiny fraction and looked up at her through the hair that had fallen into his eyes, trying to use it as a shield against the inevitable taunting to come.

"In comparison to what?"

"To whatever is normal when she's around everyone else."

He groaned. "Oh God. We're talking an eight or a nine. Maybe just starting to hit a ten."

There was an aborted snicker from her and he noticed she'd clamped her lips together in an attempt to keep her giggling silent. It was somewhat ruined by her shaking shoulders.

"Oh just get it over with," he mumbled, lifting his head and glaring at the tower in the distance behind her in a childish attempt to avoid her gaze.

"This girl _**loves**_ you, Kitty!" She exploded in a fit of laughter, doubling over to hug her arms and leaning her elbows on her crossed legs as she howled through the tears quickly collecting in the corners of her eyes.

He screwed his eyes shut. His Lady wasn't perturbed by this in the slightest. On the contrary, this was giving her a ridiculous amount of joy if her unladylike snorts were anything to go by. Well, maybe it was just too much to ask that there would be something for him to tease her about in return.

"I don't see what's so funny about this." he told her when she had started to relax somewhat and had begun wiping her eyes and face.

"Oh Chaton, it's hilarious. This girl might potentially like you more than any of these other girls and you had absolutely no idea. Especially since you say she didn't like you at first. You must have done or said something when you fixed it. Something so huge it made her start fawning over you right away."

When he'd given her his umbrella, he realised. He'd poured out his soul to her trying to explain that it wasn't him that had placed the chewing gum on her seat and that he just wanted to make friends like everyone else. He'd been so sure that baring his emotions so rawly would help her to realise he was sincere, but it hadn't occurred to him she might become enamoured with him because of it. And he'd given her his umbrella because she had to walk in the rain and he had a car waiting for him. He didn't mind getting a little wet if it saved her from getting soaked. In hindsight he could see how that might be something that would make somebody a little infatuated. Oh God, she'd stammered when she'd tried to say goodbye that day.

"I thiiiiiink I know when that was. Now that I'm thinking about it," he groaned again, "What am I going to _do?_ "

Ladybug looked at him, no longer laughing but a large grin still planted on her pretty face. "Is she cute?"

"What!?"

"Is she cute? Pretty? Totally disregard the fact that you know her or whatever you feel for her. What do you think of how she looks?"

Was it usually this warm outside at this time in the evening? He swore his face felt sunburned, and he was half expecting his mask to start smoking. Ladybug leaned forward to examine the pink flush dusting his cheeks and it bloomed darker than before, this time due to her proximity.

"Why Chat Noir, are you _blushing_? I would say that means you do think she's a pretty girl."

"What!? I don't–I mean, yeah she's pretty but–that's not why-that is I-I don't-I DON'T THINK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!" he stuttered out. She was so close, _too close_ and this line of questioning was so unbelievably awkward. His stomach was fluttering as if a swarm of akumas were taking up residence there and he clenched his fist, his claws pricking into his palm as a distraction from her radiating body heat.

"Why not?"

"What?"

She leaned back again and he exhaled, not even aware he'd been holding his breath until then.

"Why don't you think about her like that? Have you ever even considered it? 'Cause if you have and then decided you don't like her that way then that's fine. But if not, how do you really know you don't like her?"

"But surely if I'd thought about it at all, it would mean I liked her? Wouldn't that be like admitting that the person I love isn't-I mean, there's only one person I want to think..." he trailed off suddenly, becoming aware of what he was admitting and who he was admitting it to. He cleared his throat loudly and tried to pretend he didn't see the way Ladybug's brow furrowed or her eyes widened as she started connecting the dots in her head.

Ladybug tried not to think too much about the implications of what he'd said combined with the way he'd trailed off like that. Maybe his slight crush on her wasn't so slight after all, given the way he seemed nervous about how he'd mentioned it. And he'd used the word love so casually. It wasn't his usual style to say something like that so seriously, it was mostly flirty teasing or over-exaggerated devotion that made her feel it was a bit of a joke to him too. She's have to be careful now not to be too harsh in the way she turned down his advances from now on.

"So," he said suddenly, clearing his throat again and trying for a light-hearted, somewhat embarrassed tone to lighten the awkward mood, "how do you even go about acting around someone you know has a crush on you? You know, when they have no idea that you know?"

"What?" she said looking at him like he'd just handed her an octopus suddenly and without explanation, "Just act like you always do. Why would you need to change?"

 _Because I don't think I'll be able to ignore her acting weird now that I know why._

* * *

This was originally longer with a scene after this one set at school, but the overall feel I got was that it was best to start the next chapter with that instead of end this one with an awkward scene change before trailing off.

Sorry for the wait, but as I said before I have a pretty hectic life with work and my kid, plus I get pretty exhausted and lose my motivation. This has not been proofread as well as it should have been but I was just very keen to publish it before I went to bed in case my motivation jumped off a cliff during the night.

Please leave me comments if you liked it. Doesn't have to be much but in all seriousness if you wrote an essay on it, my night would be made lol. But seriously, your comments are what keep my motivation to write this from disappearing.


	3. Adrien is Awkward

**Adrien is Awkward**

He was an idiot.

He was acting like an idiot, he knew he was acting like an idiot and _he couldn't seem to stop._

"Dude, you want to...ugh, Adrien? _Again!?_ "

Adrien felt a pang of guilt for running off before his best friend finished his sentence, but he had to _move_. It was time for lunch and Marinette had jumped up suddenly and towards his seat, mouth opening to start forming words. Before she'd had a chance he'd already begun a speedy exit and as a result Nino had been left sitting at their shared desk alone.

He'd been avoiding so much as looking at Marinette all morning and she had definitely noticed. He was relatively sure both Nino and Alya had as well. During their last lesson Adrien had heard Alya whisper to Marinette to try and ask him what was going on over the lunch break and so he was pretty certain she'd been about to invite him to the bakery for lunch or something. Which would make for some really awkward conversation. Even if he didn't spill the fact that he knew her secret now, because he was clearly incapable of acting like a normal human being around her.

How did he used to act around her? Plagg had had a field day the night before, alternating between laughing at him and giving the most useless advice possible. He was sure wearing dark glasses to hide how you felt was more appropriate to buying diamonds than his own situation. Plagg had still been snickering to himself this morning when Adrien had woken up thinking that maybe he'd simply overreacted the night before. He'd thought that maybe he shouldn't be concerned about acting strangely in her vicinity after all, but then that had all been blown away before class had even started today.

Marinette and Alya had approached both boys at the classroom door but his back had been turned and he hadn't seen her coming. Not that he was sure he'd have been better prepared even if he had. She hadn't said anything unprecedented, just "Salut Adrien," but he'd suffered a rather indelicate reaction. After yelping loudly and flattening himself against the wall beside the door, he'd excused himself to the bathroom feeling ashamed the whole time. He'd felt the inside pocket of his shirt vibrate relentlessly as Plagg silently giggled, before the kwami had poked his head out to observe the surroundings. Seeing that they were alone in the boys restrooms he'd begun singing "Adrien and Marinette sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G" at the top of his lungs until Adrien had caught him and stuffed him back into place in his shirt. And so he'd hidden in a cubicle until just a minute or so before class started so no one would have a chance to ask him what was wrong. As he'd suspected, Mlle. Bustier had started class the moment he was in the door, telling him to take a seat, which he did blushing the entire time from embarrassment. Nino had tried, discreetly, to ask him what was wrong a couple of times but Adrien had completely ignored him in favour of staring intently at the teacher and pretending to pay attention. Although instead of paying attention his mind had only played Ladybug's voice saying, _"She has a crush on you"_ on a repeating loop for thirty minutes straight.

When they'd left the classroom for the lab less than an hour later, Nino had given him one long look before Adrien had shook his head minusculely and offered a weak smile to show it was nothing to worry about. He'd let out a deep breath when Nino had smiled back and shook his head, exasperated with his friend. But right as he'd started to raise his hand for a fist bump, he'd heard someone immediately behind him trip. He'd instinctively turned to both help them upright themselves, and to protect himself from being squashed and instantly gasped back in his released breath as he found himself looking down at Marinette's burning face. She, of course, had stuttered out an apology and got back to her feet awkwardly. As soon as she was balanced normally again Adrien had ripped his hands away from her shoulders and had let out a strange whimpering sound as he pivoted on the spot and broke into a run towards the Chemistry lab. He'd flung himself through the doorway and launched himself at his lab stool, throwing his arms down on the worktop and burying his scorching face in them while groaning quietly. He had realised he could smell faint traces of whatever perfume she'd been wearing and deduced he must have some residue left on his hands from where he'd caught her. He started to stubbornly breathe through his mouth to avoid the smell and remained with his head down, even when he heard his friends arrive and take their seats at a painfully slow pace. He hoped Plagg's laughter was quiet enough to avoid anyone else's scrutiny because he couldn't seem to hear anything else anymore.

Nino hadn't even tried to be subtle for the rest of the morning and had actually nudged him harshly twice in an attempt to get his undivided attention. He'd remained tenaciously focused on the lessons. Outwardly at least. He hadn't actually taken in a single thing so far. He'd been able to hear the girls sitting behind them whispering rapidly like constant wave noises in the background. It might have lulled him to sleep if he hadn't been so concerned with what exactly they were saying. Did they know he knew? If they did, how would they react? What if they didn't know and thought he was weird and never wanted to talk to him again and so did Nino and he was left without any friends and- He'd stopped his train-wreck of thought to try and remind himself to think and act normally.

And now here he was again, attempting to run out of school the second lunch started because he was _afraid_ to be around Marinette now that he knew she liked him. He stood on the steps outside the school and looked around, wondering what to do. He'd recently negotiated with his father to let him stay with friends for lunch two days a week instead of returning home to eat alone. Today was one of those days. No car was coming to pick him up so he couldn't just claim that he'd missed his friends once they came looking for him. No, it was time to try and stop avoiding the issue. Not that he was going to discuss it or anything, but he couldn't run away from one of his friends forever.

He gulped comically as he heard the three of them approaching, chatting about something inconsequential but in a tone which said this was more for his benefit than theirs. They'd obviously been talking about him up until the moment they got into earshot. Deep breaths, deep breaths. He could do this. He turned to face them but kept his eyes trained on his shoes, catching glimpses of them from his peripheral vision.

"Um, Adrien man, you okay?" Nino asked hesitantly, nose wrinkled in confusion.

"Uh, yeah. Just...not been feeling well. Got a weird headache," he lied, as smooth as a piece of sandpaper on a weathered brick wall.

"Riiiiight. What are you doing out here dude? Don't you usually get to have lunch with me on Tuesdays? No car to take you home today, is there?" Nino was speaking slowly and clearly, like he might to a child or a tourist who only spoke phrasebook French.

"I forgot...headache's really bothering me," he muttered.

"Okay, if you say so. Listen, the girls wondered if we wanted to try out that new café down the street? The one with the hero theme? You up for that?"

 _Was he?_ He smiled at his best friend.

"Sure." He screamed internally.

 _God_ , he was so uncomfortable, both emotionally and physically. He was sitting bolt upright in his seat, hands face down on the table as he stared at the meal in front of him. He'd only been able to handle a couple of bites because every time he looked up he'd caught Marinette staring at him, a dreamy smile on her face which she wiped off as soon as she saw him looking. Had she always done that? How had he been so oblivious to it up till now?

He'd tried desperately to remain normal. He'd smiled, made small talk. Granted it was more of a grimace than a smile and his small talk had consisted of mentioning that the café's front door kind of looked too big for the doorway while it was propped open. But it was effort, wasn't it? He was further freaked out by the wider and wider grin Alya seemed to be sporting the longer this debacle continued. She kept flashing her teeth whenever he looked up from his food and nudging Marinette in what she clearly thought was a discreet way but which couldn't be further from the truth.

"Oh look! They have Ladybug and Chat Noir games in the back section!" Alya exclaimed suddenly making Adrien jump in place, "Nino, we should totally have a game of hupla!"

"What?" Nino responded, obviously not following the train of thought Adrien was suddenly, desperately wishing he wasn't following either.

"The game where you try to get the hoops onto the pole," she said, "They've made the hoops yo-yo's and the pole is Chat Noir's staff. We should go play."

"Oh, uh, I guess..." Said Nino as Alya stood and swept him out of his seat as she passed.

She'd left them alone. On purpose. Because she wanted to encourage Marinette to- he didn't know what. He was so doomed.

"So...um, what do you think of this p-place?" Marinette asked, face red enough to rival the polka dotted table cloth.

"Th-this p-p-place?" he stammered at her. Oh God, why couldn't he talk?

"Uh, y-yeah. Do you like it? I've never eaten here before..." she trailed off.

He took a deep breath. He could do this.

"No! Um, yes. I've never here eaten before, uh eaten here before either. It's nice. It's...um...red?"

 _ **Nailed it.**_

"Yeah. I noticed that. It's very Ladybug oriented for a café that's supposed to have both heroes, right?"

He gave a tiny smile through his discomfort. Ladybug. This was familiar territory he was sure he could manage to talk about.

"Y-yeah. Well Ladybug is pretty-" he gulped- "a-awesome! Pretty awesome. She deserves to spot the tak-I mean take the spotlight."

Marinette frowned quite noticeably at that and for a moment he feared she was going to call him out for his weird behaviour or his slip of the tongue. But as usual she surprised him as a look of annoyance landed upon her face.

"She does not! Her and Chat Noir are _partners_ and they should be represented equally! If this is a hero café, he should have just as much place as her! It wouldn't have killed them to put out some black and green tablecloths or something."

She huffed as she finished and crossed her arms over her chest, bottom lip stuck out quite prominently. His chest warmed considerably at her words about his alter ego. As he glanced at her annoyed expression, he was suddenly reminded of Ladybug's question from the night before. He felt the heat rise in his cheeks at the realisation that (with her lip stuck out like that, at least) he did in fact think Marinette was quite cute. His eyes widened in embarrassment from his own internal admission and he felt them burn as he realised he hadn't blinked in several minutes.

He flapped his eyelids in a sudden rush to compensate and found his sight blurring. Wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand he was unaware of the way Marinette had pulled out of her huffed pose and was instead watching him uneasily.

"Adrien?" she asked, startling him and making him nudge the sugar bowl with his elbow so that it fell and scattered everywhere, like the world's stickiest confetti.

"Oh, uh...s-sorry. Yes?"

"Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah! No!? Sure!...I mean I'm fine, really."

She looked seriously concerned and despite his discomfort at being around her, he felt guilty for worrying her. He was determined to set her mind right and relieve her concerns.

"I'm just...n-not feeling too well," he told her, deciding to stick with his lie from earlier in case she asked any further questions he found he couldn't answer, "I have a head bad-ache. Aargh! _A bad headache!_ "

He brought one of his hands up to his face and did his best to hide in it. He should probably have a drink soon lest he overheat from all the embarrassment. The (probably laughter induced) wriggling coming from his pocket did nothing to encourage his hopes that maybe he wasn't making a complete fool of himself.

From the gap beneath his hand he could see the tabletop beneath him and his other arm resting upon it next to the shimmering sugar granules he had spilled a moment ago. He could also see another smaller hand, gingerly sliding along the surface in bursts of movement towards his own. As Marinette's fingers reached out tentatively to touch the back of his hand, in comfort or something else he didn't know, he once again lost his ability to think subjectively. He flinched away from her swiftly, desperately trying to think of a decent reason to explain his behaviour.

He was therefore relieved when Alya and Nino arrived back at the table and let out a deep breath as he concentrated on them arguing about something to do with the game they'd been playing.

"...But I do!" he caught as the conversation drifted into his line of hearing, "The games are rigged! It's a complete waste of money!"

"Uh, Alya dude, most places have rigged games. People play for fun, not to win the shitty stuffed animals on the shelf."

"Well, I say that I threw a winning toss and I should have my God damn plushie already!"

"Oh man, whatever. You guys want to get out of here?" he turned to Adrien and Marinette at the table below him, still seated as he stood, "I know we still have loads of time but I can see Alya getting way out of hand over these prizes."

He chuckled to himself as Alya put her hands on her hips and glared at him in mock outrage, although the slight smile on her face betrayed her true feelings on the matter.

Adrien didn't wait for another opportunity and leapt up from his seat before Nino had even stopped laughing, food still mostly untouched near his place setting.

"I think I'm j-just going to finish up some work in the library till start class. I-I mean...oh never mind."

And he abruptly took off for the doors before anyone could stop him, tripping and barely righting himself in his hurry to get back to school.

"That...was weird."

Nino's words didn't seem to be nearly enough to explain Adrien's odd behaviour all day and yet Marinette had to admit it seemed to be all there was to say on the subject.

"I'm gonna see if I can catch up to him. Find out what's going on," he said to the girls before taking off at a jog out of the café after his friend.

Marinette was feeling very worried. Adrien was always such a level-headed, reserved person and all of a sudden he had morphed into someone unrecognisable. Something must be bothering him to have him so out of sorts like that. Sure, he'd said he'd had a headache but that didn't explain the stammering or the constant jumping in surprise he'd shown. She had a feeling that was simply an excuse to avoid explaining himself.

She turned to Alya to express all this (hopefully without gushing too much over how collected Adrien usually was. Alya's teasing was picking up to unprecedented levels lately) but was stopped in her tracks by the sly smirk she found her best friend wearing.

"What?" she asked as she once again started to move out of the doorway, Alya trailing in her stead. She watched as Alya moved to catch up to her and her smirk quickly evolved into an evil grin. A grin which left an icy chill running down Marinette's back, despite the mild weather.

"Does the way Adrien's acting seem at all familiar to you, girl?" she said, hands leaving the strap on her satchel to link behind her back as she walked, the picture of innocence. It was suspicious.

"Familiar?"

Was it familiar? There was something, but she just couldn't quite put her finger on it. Was it the something to do with the way she thought he looked - like he'd just spent the past half hour in a sauna? Flushed and uncomfortable in his own skin? But since she'd never seen him look like that before, it had to be something else.

"Yeah. Like, does it seem like the kinda thing that you tend to do?" Alya asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Me? Alya, what are you talking about?"

"Adrien. He was awkward but mostly comfortable talking to me and Nino, but girl, _not to you_. He was mixing up his words. Don't tell me you never even noticed?"

Her, Marinette, not notice something Adrien did? Never. She'd definitely noticed him getting his words the wrong way round but she'd been preoccupied by the way his mouth had looked when he was forming the sounds to notice if it'd only been around her or not. The way he'd kept rubbing at the back of his neck and mussing up his perfectly groomed hair as he picked at his food had also been distracting. She wondered what it would be like to be the person mussing it for him. But if he was uncomfortable enough to mess up his sentences, how could he ever be comfortable enough to-

"Wait. He only did that with me?"

"Uh, yeah! I can't believe you kept spacing out so much you never noticed. He stuttered too!"

"Yeah, that's not like him."

"Oh my God, you're kidding me, right? You really don't see what I do?"

"See what?"

"Marinette _. Girl_. He's acting just like you!"

"Huh?"

"The inability to construct grown up sentences! The stutter! The complete lack of co-ordination when he's flustered! None of this sounds like you to you?"

"Well, yeah, although I'm clumsy even at the best of times. I don't think that counts. I'm not getting you Alya. What do you mean?"

"Okay, try this. When do you stutter?"

Well, she hardly ever did. She used to have quite a noticeable stammer when she tried to speak to Adrien, but that had all but gone now. It was only really when she had to start off a conversation with him and nerves betrayed her.

"Well..."

"And when do you mix up your sentences?"

Again it was almost never now. But back when she had, it was when she was trying to talk to -

"And when are you most likely to turn redder than a fire hydrant? Around who?"

"Okay! Around Adrien. But what are you trying to _say_?"

"Oh my God girl, wake up! Adrien is acting weird around you in exactly the same way you acted around him. You know, back when you first started crushing on him!?"

Wait, what!? Was she saying -

"Are you saying that you think-"

"I think Adrien's got a crush on you!"


	4. Adrien Needs To Talk It Out

**Adrien Needs To Talk It Out**

"Adrien! Wait up!"

Adrien registered his name but he was just too lost in his own head to truly hear Nino as he dashed up the street towards him.

He had made such a fool of himself. Who jumped away from a friend when they tried to comfort them? Who ran away, like an actual child faced with a nightmare? Sure, he now realised how Marinette felt about him but she was first and foremost his friend. He was absolutely sure she would never overstep her bounds when she could see something was bothering him. Yes, the way she'd taken her time to slide her hand across the table in little stops and starts had belied her nervousness but that had been enough to remind him that she was _nervous to touch him_. That she was nervous around him in general. Once again he wondered how it had taken him this long to see it. She was always so hesitant when she was around him.

"Adrien! _Dude!_ "

Nino had finally caught up to him and he stopped, turning to face his friend while apprehensively pulling at the strap on his bag where it crossed his chest.

"Hi, sorry about taking off like that."

Nino was crouched over, hands braced on his thighs as he gulped in mouthfuls of fresh air. Without glancing up, he held up a finger in front of Adrien, an indication to wait. Adrien was suddenly overcome with a fresh wave of guilt. Not only had he flown from Marinette, he'd run away from Nino too in his hurry to get out of there and now the poor guy was bent double in his effort to recover from the sprint he'd done to catch up to him. He was going to have to get him something for putting up with him today.

When his best friend finally seemed to have caught his breath, he straightened and looked him directly in the eye, his eyebrows quirked and head tilted slightly, like a curious dog.

"Okay man, what the hell was that?"

"What was what?" He smiled awkwardly and knew immediately there was no way in hell Nino was going to buy it. His best friend might be a little dense at times, but apparently Adrien had no right to talk about people being dense these days. Nino probably knew him better than anyone, maybe with the exception of Ladybug, so he was going to want answers. Awkward answers that Adrien didn't really want to give right now. Scratch that, didn't want to give ever.

"That! Back there! And this morning at school. What's wrong with you man? This is not a headache. You're acting weirder than I've ever seen you. Something's up?"

Adrien sighed, resigning himself to the fact that he was going to have to tell him something. He clutched the strap tighter to his chest and swallowed down the anxiety that was churning in his stomach and making his chest tight and uncomfortable. There was going to be some serious teasing over this and his defences were already worn away from Ladybug doing the same thing last night. It would feel less like a tease and much more like a torment.

"Promise you won't make fun of me?"

Nino narrowed his eyes and took in the skittish appearance of the boy before him for a second before his face broke into a amused smile.

"Why, what happened?"

He closed his eyes, tensed his shoulders until they were close to touching his ears and dipped his head before saying in the quietest voice he could muster, "I get it."

"Get what?" Nino's voice was sounding even more confused than earlier.

He took yet another deep breath and looked at Nino, shoulders still tensed, waiting for the onslaught once his friend understood. "Yesterday, when you called me clueless. I get it. I'm not clueless anymore."

"Clueless?" Nino said with a mystified expression, "When did I call you-? Oh...Oh my God," his face relaxed into a much more neutral blank look, "M. Clueless. Yesterday morning."

Adrien couldn't help feeling mortified by the look of astonishment that Nino wore while staring at him, and he felt a tinge of heat creep over his face, but that turned out to be nothing compared to the sadistic grin that suddenly split across his supposed friends face. Adrien's eyes widened exponentially and he felt that small flush expand and redden his entire face as Nino grabbed him by the shoulder and pumped his other fist in the air.

"Finally! Dude! It's been hellish keeping quiet about this man."

"You promised you wouldn't make fun of me!" Adrien said rapidly, trying to get a handle on the situation in a panic, trying to turn away but finding Nino's grip was harder to shake than he'd thought.

"I never actually promised that dude."

"Yes you-"

 _Shit._ Adrien replayed the conversation back in his head. No he hadn't. Oh God, he was so screwed.

"Niiiiiiino, please. I'm freaking out here man."

"About what?" Nino glanced at him suspiciously and his free hand came up to point in his face as he spoke, "I need you to tell me specifically what you know or Alya will kill me for saying anything if I'm wrong."

He gulped. It was bad enough thinking about it, and talking it over with Ladybug and Plagg had been horrible. He really hated having to voice aloud the reason for his discomfort. He glanced down at his feet to avoid Nino's gaze as his best friend let go of his shoulder and pulled back from him, dumb grin back on his face.

"Marinette," he said to his feet, "She likes me."

"Yes. Yes she does," Nino said through his grin, slinging his arm over Adrien's shoulders and guiding him down the street again, "This is why you're acting like a freak?"

"Am I that bad?" he asked, an awkward and crooked smile appearing on his face. He wasn't entirely sure why he was even asking. Even he, M. Clueless that he was, could tell his behaviour was demented.

"Duh. So what happened back there that made it so bad you had to, you know, run?"

Adrien groaned loudly and slapped his hand over his face, running it back into his hair and rubbing the back of his neck as he recalled the awkward atmosphere from earlier. He recounted to Nino how Marinette had reached across the table to touch the back of his hand. How despite it fact that she was just worried about him, it had panicked him that a girl who liked him was trying to touch him and how he'd felt guilty about it because she was just genuinely trying to look out for him.

He found that once he'd started it was hard to stop and all the fears he'd had about things being uncomfortable between them came out. Nino was relatively quiet at first and simply listened but he found this much more helpful than Plagg's incessant laughing which he had interjected with whining from time to time about how he didn't really care.

Of course, he never mentioned that there was anyone else he'd spoken to about it and actually tried to give Nino the impression that he'd kept this all bottled up since last night.

"So...if no one else knows you know...how did you manage to work it out?" Nino asked as they approached the steps to the school.

"Um," he said eloquently as his mind raced to find a believable reason he had suddenly become deductive enough to work it out on his own. Okay, think. How did people figure this stuff out on TV? TV!

He gave a mental sigh of relief as it occurred to him how he was going to answer the question.

"Last night I was watching...something. The girl in it met this guy in it for the first time and then she got all stutter-y and mixed her words up and stuff. I was just thinking she was acting just like Marinette does to me and then-"

"And then someone pointed out she had a crush on him, right?"

Adrien nodded. It was a complete lie and he felt awful but there was no way he could tell Nino that someone else had told him because then he would want to know who and he couldn't navigate that conversation safely.

"Dude, was this anime?" Nino snickered, "You've got the weirdest taste in stuff man. But seriously!-" he held his arms up to defend himself as Adrien gave him a half hearted shove for the ribbing, "you've got to get a handle on this man. You're gonna give everyone the wrong idea."

* * *

"Alya, I swear you have the wrong idea in your head again. There's no way he likes me," Marinette said glumly as they slowly made their way out of the front doors of the cafe.

"I dunno girl, he seemed awfully uncomfortable around you – in a good way!" Alya added suddenly upon seeing the look sweeping across the other girls face, "I mean, from what you said, he ran away because you tried to touch him. How would you have acted if he'd done that back when you first started crushing on him?"

"Probably freak out and fall over my own feet," Marinette added with a smirk.

"Exactly. You've seen how he's been all day. Everyone's noticed. Even a boy that oblivious has to know he's acting strange."

* * *

"Wrong idea?" Adrien asked. What was Nino talking about?

"Dude," Nino said, dragging a hand down his face as he spoke, "All morning you've acted on edge, you've stuttered around her, you've mixed up your words, you've nearly fallen over trying to keep your distance around her. Sound like any anime characters you've been watching lately?"

What!? Oh crap. He hadn't thought about that. He'd been so concerned with what he'd learned about Marinette and how much it freaked him out that he hadn't been thinking of exactly _how_ he was acting. He knew they'd noticed his awkward behaviour but hadn't considered how they'd interpret it.

"Unless...you know...it's not the wrong idea?" Nino said, his voice gentle like he was talking to a startled cat and was afraid of getting scratched. A far more accurate comparison than he probably realised. He continued as Adrien glanced up to look at him, confusion evident in his expression, "I mean, before you knew about this you were always so concerned with what she thought of you."

"Yeah...but I was afraid she still hated me after my first day. With the gum, I mean," he responded, understanding no better than a moment ago, "I don't have many friends Nino."

It was true. Even now that everyone in his class seemed friendly, he was never entirely sure if they considered him a friend. He was never quite sure how to just walk up to a group of people and hold or maintain a conversation with them. He tended to just stand on the edge of the group and listen awkwardly with a smile pasted on his face. He really hated how uncomfortable he felt whenever he tried to insert himself into a group setting, but he was getting better at it. He was just worried his father would take him out of school again and his graceless social interactions would never have a chance to progress at all.

"I get it man, but...you're always saying you think she's awesome or 'so nice'-" he used his fingers to mimic quotations in the air, "and I've _personally_ seen you wink at her a total of four times. It's like you get carried away and don't even realise it."

"Wait, what? No, no I-"

He cut off when Nino started snickering at him. He had no idea how to defend himself. He might have said Marinette was awesome once or twice but he had no idea he'd **ever** winked at her. He knew Nino liked to tease him but there was no way he was lying about that now; he sounded too sincere.

* * *

"He has winked at me a lot in the last couple of months," Marinette said, her cheeks glowing slightly at the thought.

"See? And didn't you say he got nervous when you two went for the same controller when you were training for the gaming tournament? Because your hands touched."

"Well, yeah but, Alya, what if we're wrong?"

Her mind went crazy with imaginary scenarios in which he'd decided he didn't want to be friends with her anymore and humiliated her in front of the whole school, where he found her strange and creepy and called her out on it in the bakery in front of her parents and customers, where he couldn't like her because he-

"Alya, what if he likes someone else?"

* * *

"I like someone else Nino, you know that."

"What? That crush you've got on Ladybug? Who doesn't?-" Adrien found himself frowning and feeling uncomfortably possessive about his Lady at that- "But who would ever have a chance with an actual superhero man? You've got to think closer to home."

If he was a real cat he would have growled at the insinuation that he wasn't good enough for her. He knew that wasn't what Nino had meant though and so kept it to himself.

"Not just her-"

"This chick you work with? But I thought you said she wasn't interested? There's no point in beating a dead horse man. Model chick's probably too stuck up to ever change her mind."

"Nino!" He'd never said she was a model. But after gushing to Nino about this girl, and saying he was close with her, he couldn't admit it was Ladybug because he'd never be able to disclose that he actually knew her. But he'd also needed some way to explain knowing someone his age that didn't go to school with them. And he did work with his Lady so it'd been natural to call her a work friend. After that he'd just never corrected the assumption that he must know the girl from modelling.

"Okay, okay. I'll drop it. Sssooo...can I let Alya know what's going on with you? 'Cause if _I_ thought you were acting like you might like Marinette, _you know_ she got there three times as fast."

Adrien made a sound of misery as the situation continued to get worse before his very eyes. Alya was Marinette's best friend so any suspicions she had were going to be passed on to her immediately and this thing could get super complicated before he knew it.

"Oh God. Just tell her so she doesn't go giving Marinette any strange ideas, okay? But ask her not to tell Marinette I know. Things have already gotten pretty weird between us."

He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in and let the conversation move forward with just a little less dread sitting in the pit of his stomach. Nino assured him that everything would be fine if he just learned to chill out and promised to coach him through being normal around her again. It didn't do as much to assuage Adrien's fears as he'd hoped but he was pleased to have some kind of back up to look forward to from now on.

"So..." he started as the school came into sight ahead of them, "You've known about this for a while then?"

Nino chuckled at him. "About a month, dude. Remember back in May, when I liked Marinette?"

Adrien cast his mind back and nodded dumbly at his best friend, not completely sure what that had to do with anything.

"Well when Alya and I first got locked up together in that cage during the akuma attack, she was doing her best to make it pretty clear she was not interested in me. Turns out, she'd been listening in to me and Marinette the same way you were so she knew what I'd said."

Adrien listened as Nino explained that in his attempts to convince Alya he wasn't trying to date her, he'd admitted he liked Marinette. It had taken quite a while for him to do so from the sounds of things and Adrien noticed there were several gaping holes in the recounted conversation. He wondered how much Nino was trying to hide about what had happened with Alya.

"Wow." He gave his best friend an apologetic look, "How'd that go for you?"

"She point blank told me not to waste my time because Mar was just far too hung up on someone else in class. Like crazy hung up. She actually seemed amazed I didn't already know about it."

"Ah."

As Nino continued his story where – surprisingly – Alya had never outright named him but had been spectacularly obvious about it in other ways ("She called you 'the literal poster-boy', man"), Adrien switched to automatic responses to allow him to consider everything.

Nino had thought he liked Marinette too. Apparently he'd been a little too affectionate to be interpreted as friendly ("You know, Rose and Juleka noticed the way you touched her hands at the hat competition and have mentioned it a few times since"). He hadn't realised he had been over the top. Although in hindsight his behaviour kinda was a bit much. Why hadn't he thought it was too much then? He didn't even remember the winking Nino kept bringing up but there _was_ something he remembered clearly. He gulped as Nino touched on the subject in question.

"Hey, have you thought about how excited she must have been when Alya volunteered her to take over Mylène's part in our film? Especially when you didn't seem to be put off about kissing her."

He gulped again.

* * *

"He was practically preening in front of you when you took over our film lead. Boy was posing during make-up once he realised you were watching, I swear."

* * *

"Ehh...It was just for a film though. Surely she knew that?"

Nino's laughter faded back into the background gently as he nervously pulled at the collar of his shirt which suddenly felt stuck tight to his clammy skin. He recalled how nervous he'd really felt about that, and how he hadn't wanted to lose face by admitting it to anyone. When he'd been expecting to kiss Mylène he'd felt uncomfortable, and when it'd been Chloé insisting she take the part and fudging the scene just to jump ahead to kissing him, he'd been prepared to grit his teeth and endure it but he'd also been praying to whatever deity was up there to get him out of it. But when it had been Marinette in front of him...

* * *

"Well..." she giggled, "he did seem much happier once it was me he was going to be kissing."

* * *

Honestly he'd felt scared. And a bit sick. He'd been jumpy and skittish but he'd kept it all internalised and tried to project some facade of confidence so no one would realise what he was going through.

He'd thought it was just nerves because...well he was about to kiss someone for the first time. And it was going to be _in front of other people_. That was bound to make anyone feel uncomfortable, right?

But he also remembered the way his chest had fluttered when she'd leaned up to him. And how _exciting_ it'd had all seemed at the time. **Did he like Marinette?**

Before Adrien had a chance to let that rare thought sauté a little, Nino was gripping him by the shoulders, a look of panic strewn across his face.

"We need to run! Akuma!"


	5. Adrien can Relate

**Adrien can Relate**

It was both a blessing and a curse that Alya loved to video and live-stream Akuma attacks. A blessing because Alya often ditched Marinette before she needed to make up an excuse to disappear and transform; a curse because her best friend had no sense of self-preservation and it made Marinette's job as Ladybug that much more anxiety ridden as she worried for the girl's life.

"Wow. That was an awesome rescue. Care to say a few words to your fans watching?" the girl said, holding up her phone to point it at Ladybug as she put her down from her princess hold and onto the pavement a few streets over from the attack.

"That was an incredibly dangerous stunt you pulled and I don't want to see you anywhere near us while we're fighting," she told her, for what felt like the umpteenth time that month. She rolled her eyes when Alya pouted – actually pouted – in response.

"If every day folk don't stand up to these guys then you and Chat Noir will be worn down before you know it."

"Chat and I have extra stamina from the magical armour, you don't have anything but your phone," she pointed out hands on hips, "Stay away for the rest of the fight, Alya. Please."

Before her best friend could make a retort, she flung out her yo-yo to catch on a nearby rooftop overhang and launched herself across the Paris skyline, heading back to where Chat was occupying their latest opponent.

As she arrived she could see Chat drop to slide between the legs of their foe as he avoided the wave of magic the man sent his way with a flick of his gloved wrist. The Akuma turned quickly and she heard her partner gasp as he jumped off of the surrounding walls and cars in an attempt to avoid the next wave sent his way.

Ladybug grabbed him by the tail as she swung past, pulling him away before the wave could touch him.

"Alright, Kitty?" she asked as he cartwheeled in mid-air to right himself before landing on his feet next to her, "Any idea what he does yet?"

"Yeah," Chat answered seriously and pointed to a pair of teenagers across the street from where they had first encountered Alya. The girl was shoving at the boy's chest and screaming at the tops of her lungs about something, while he stared at her in disgust and abruptly turned on his heel and stormed off.

"That's the third time I've seen someone get hit," Chat told her, "and it's always a girl or a woman and a boy or a man. And I'm pretty sure those last two weren't even dating. I think he's just targeting boys and girls who are close."

"Not good," she said, frowning, "We better be doubly careful not to get hit then or there goes our team."

He smirked at her and was promptly cut off by a car the akumatised man had launched towards them using his ripples of magic. The two separated to either side of the car as it approached before using it as a springboard to launch themselves at the man.

Chat Noir extended his baton to push himself higher before dropping down towards the Akuma and swinging the baton at the ridiculously large hat on his head. Ladybug grabbed at it quickly, tearing the material and making a grumbling noise when it didn't produce a black butterfly.

"So what got your underwear in a knot?" Chat shouted at the man, and since he was now behind him, the Akuma was forced to turn to face him, giving Ladybug time to examine his costume for more possible hiding places.

"I am sick of people being satisfied with what they have when I never can be," he shouted, "I am Matchbreaker and I say no man and woman should be close ever again!"

He launched another wave of magic which Chat skilfully back flipped away from until he landed on a store awning. As the Akuma lifted his hand to point at her feline partner again, Ladybug spotted a piece of paper tucked into his sleeve cuff. It fluttered in the breeze but seemed thicker and sturdier than an average piece of paper. More like some kind of -

"Ticket!" she shouted, "Chat! The ticket sticking out of his sleeve!"

"I see it!" he shouted back as he jumped up to the rooftop to avoid another blast of whatever it was the Akuma was shooting at him, "He's going to be hard to get close to though!"

"Lucky Charm!"

Ladybug held out her hand to catch the spray tin which fell from the yo-yo.

"Starch?" she said, reading the label and sounding puzzled, "Super strong starch. What am I meant to do with this?"

Glancing back to where Chat was leaping about keeping the Akuma occupied, she saw the super-powered victim bend his arm back to throw blast after blast at the cat hero and spied the shirt that made up the upper half of the costume on the man flash with red and black spots; her powers indicating that she could combine it with her Lucky Charm.

"Got it!" she yelled in realisation, "Keep him busy, Chat!"

"On it!" he yelled back

Hearing his call for Cataclysm, she got into position as Chat dissolved the guttering attached to the row of buildings he was perched on, which in turn caused the drainage pipes to start to sway before Chat used his baton to smack them towards Matchbreaker. The man moved back and forth swiftly as he dodged the falling debris, struggling to keep up with Chat's assault. The final pipe looked close to hitting him and the man swung his arm out to blast it away. Just as the pipe was thrown to the side, Ladybug ran at the man, spraying the starch tin at his outstretched arm and watching as the shirt instantly stiffened.

Matchbreaker used his other hand to attempt to break the stiffness of the fabric but it was impossible, his firing arm was completely immobilised. Ladybug snatched the ticket sticking out from the end of the sleeve and tore it in half, smiling as a butterfly appeared from the pieces.

She made quick work of cleansing it and threw the tin of starch into the air, watching in relief as all the damage caused by the fight and the Akuma's powers was restored to the way it ought to be.

"Are you alright?" she heard Chat ask the former Akuma, as the man sat curled in on himself in the middle of the street. He looked confused at first but then his face contorted into utter misery.

Ladybug approached as the man finally began to talk, his voice sounding cracked and full of emotional agony.

"She's never going to talk to me again. I messed up so bad. I've liked her forever and she's always making it clear she's not interested. Why do I keep pushing? She's not going to want to stay my friend anymore, not after this. And she's my best friend," he sobbed.

She saw Chat's ears and tail stiffen at the man's words and heard the first beep from her miraculous which had her stiffening immediately after him.

"Chat, we have to go," she said as his own miraculous gave off a beep as well.

"You... _know_ she's not interested?" Chat said as he crouched next to the man, ignoring her words. The victim laughed bitterly.

"She set me up with someone else," he choked out, holding up the ticket the Akuma had possessed until recently, "Says we both love these gallery shows and should go together, make a date of it," he sighed, "I've known for a while she only wants to be friends. It just...hurt is all."

"Chat," Ladybug said gently but urgently when her miraculous beeped again. Three minutes. She had to get him out of here but she only had three minutes.

"Will you be okay?" Chat asked the man, his ears flattened to the top of his head.

"Yeah, eventually," he said, "Maybe I will give Paige a chance. She's a nice woman. Pretty. And interested. I could try...see if there's anything there instead of just ignoring her for Simone."

"Um, yeah. Maybe," Chat said, looking strangely awkward all of a sudden, "I have to go now but I can see the authorities arriving. They can help you if you need anything else."

The man nodded and Ladybug finally exhaled a breath she didn't know she'd been holding as Chat rose from his spot next to him. She turned to leave but Chat caught her wrist and she turned to look at him inquisitively as her earrings beeped once more.

"Can we meet up tonight?" he asked her, his eyes looking distant and lost in thought, "I want to talk about something."

"Sure," she said, her brow bunching as she frowned at the thought of her Kitty so unsure of himself, "It has to be after nine though. I'll be missed before that."

"Okay, nine at the usual spot," he said before they finally went their separate ways.

* * *

Chat paced along the rooftop he'd picked as a stopping point on his way to meet Ladybug. He'd struggled to sit still for the remainder of school and so had spent two and a half agonising hours being called out by teachers for fidgeting. Even Nino had told him he was acting even stranger than that morning, which was not a step in the right direction for him.

He'd been just as restless once he'd gotten back home and as soon as Nathalie had released him from his activities for the day he had been itching to sneak out. It had only been seven o'clock though and he was still far too early to head to the Eiffel Tower, so he'd decided to run off some extra energy across Paris. Before he'd known it, he'd ended up across the street from a familiar bakery. Cue more restless pacing as his thoughts raced.

So...there was the faintest chance that he had a teeny, tiny crush on Marinette. Looking back on his conversation with Nino earlier, it seemed obvious that there might be some truth to what he was saying. He still wasn't entirely sure about it, of course, and he'd been so blinded to anyone else by his Lady that if it _was_ true it might take a while to sink in properly.

And then there'd been the attack. The victim had been so worried about messing up his friendship with the girl he loved who clearly hadn't felt the same way that when they'd finally left he had seemed almost...broken.

"Chat Noir?"

His head snapped up at the sound of her voice. That was twice in as many days that Ladybug had managed to surprise him. Had it really taken so little time for him to get into such a confused state? He turned to face the heroine with a frown before opening his baton and checking the display. Hmm...8:16. So he definitely hadn't spaced out and lost track of time again.

"I thought you couldn't meet till nine?" he asked as she moved towards him, her hand brushing his arm in what was clearly an act of comfort. So, she could tell that he wasn't himself. Huh. He'd always thought he could keep things like that under wraps.

"I snuck away early. I was with a friend – she's always on the Ladyblog and you were spotted. So, I made up an excuse." She shrugged as if blowing off a friend for him wasn't the most touching thing he'd had done for him lately. He absent-mindedly rubbed at his chest to dull the pleasant ache that had settled there and blinked back tears before he made things awkward.

"You've been here for a while, haven't you?" she asked, "Is there a reason you chose this rooftop?"

He thought he saw her eyes drift across to the bakery and was suddenly irrationally frightened that she might catch on that the girl who lived there was connected to this whole horrible mess he was about to bring up. Desperate, he threw out the first believable excuse he could think of.

"I like the smell of baking," he said, "it relaxes me. So, I try to find a bakery or patisserie when I'm...bothered by something."

"Ah," Ladybug sighed, her whole body seeming to slump into a more relaxed posture, "then we can sit here if you want? Instead of heading to our usual spot on the Tower?"

He smiled widely at that. She was always so considerate. Ladybug squeaked as he threw his arms around her and hugged her tight.

"That sounds like a great idea."

* * *

It took them nearly ten minutes to get situated comfortably and then a few more minutes of mindless small talk for Chat to work up the courage to bring up what was on his mind. It was nice but he knew he needed to get his answers and Ladybug's advice was probably going to be the most unbiased out of anyone he could talk to.

"Okay," he started, claws gently dragging along the piping seam on the arm of his suit in order to distract himself from how nervous he really was, "I need to ask you something and I need you to be completely honest with me."

As much as she seemed to know something was on his mind, Ladybug raised an eyebrow in slight shock at the abruptness of his question.

"Of course. What is it?" she said. Chat took a deep breath to steady himself, counting to ten in his head before he began.

"I flirt with you," he stated, "A lot. And you always push me away or play it off as some kind of joke. Why?"

After a few moments of silence, Chat looked up and felt a different kind of ache in his chest. Ladybug's expression was pained and her mouth was twisted as if she didn't trust herself to speak.

"Please," he said, voice cracking, "I asked you to be honest."

Ladybug closed her eyes and let her head drop a little, her pigtails falling forward as she did so.

"You obviously have a bit of a crush on me," she said, "and I don't want to give you any false hope that anything will happen. Between us, I mean."

"Oh."

The ache in his chest inflamed and stung. Internally Chat cried a little, but he knew there was more he needed to talk over and Ladybug was the only one he could do so with. If he started sobbing, not only was that the most pathetic thing ever, but she was too nice to let him continue this talk while he was distressed. And he really needed to do this now.

"Do I make you feel uncomfortable by doing it? The flirting?" he asked and he watched as the masked heroine's head lifted so quickly he heard a slight crack in her neck as she did so.

"NO!" she shouted, a hand coming up to her mouth in shock at how loud she had been. "No," she repeated quieter, "The only thing I feel uncomfortable about is the thought of doing this. Turning you down outright. I don't want us to drift apart or to hurt you."

As he'd suspected, she had been frightened to answer him as she knew he'd be upset. Somehow though, it felt like by prolonging it, she'd slowly peeled off the band-aid instead of ripping it off. A sharp sting might have healed faster but now he felt like he'd been left raw and bloody from the stalling.

"I don't want us to drift apart either," he said with a chocked voice, "I don't want to end up like that Matchbreaker victim. He thinks he's ruined his chances of staying friends with the girl he was akumatised over."

"I knew there was a reason you wouldn't leave when our timer's started," she said, looking him in a way he absolutely hated. It looked a lot like pity.

"Not just that," he said, clearing his throat and straightening up to appear more put-together than he felt. "Something he said, and something my friend said today as well...remember what we talked about last night? That girl at my school?"

Ladybug smiled. It was a more genuine smile this time and all traces of her sickly sympathy had disappeared. She nodded.

"So, it turns out...you were right. She likes me. Apparently, everyone seems to know but me." He was the one who smirked this time, at the sheer ridiculousness of his own situation.

"When are you going to realise, Kitty, that I'm always right?" She grinned right back at him and as much as Chat loved her, he was overcome with a different kind of love in the moment. He leant forward and pressed his forehead against hers, feeling Ladybug lean into it.

"You're my best friend, you know that?" he told her.

"And you're mine, Kitty."

He pulled back to look at her again and felt the awkward tension in his gut return as he considered his next words.

"So, anyway, my best friend said," - she threw him a raised eyebrow - "my best friend at school, that is. Anyway, he pointed out a lot of things to do with this girl that I never noticed or considered before and made a really good case that...that I might like her back. Without realising it of course!"

He blushed heavily at his little confession. As awkward as it was to discuss his Lady's lack of interest in him, this was back to dangerous levels of teasing and mortification. As he'd said she was first and foremost his best friend and so it was basically her job to tease him and break up and awkward tension when ever possible.

"The truth is...I just don't know anymore. If someone had asked me the other day if I liked her, I would've said no instantly! But now...I'm just not sure.

"And," he added, "despite what we just talked about...it feels weird to like someone else. Like I'm betraying...well not _you_ , but my _feelings_ for you."

Things went quiet again and he could see Ladybug's cheeks and the area under her mask tinge with a light pink colour. Five minutes passed in silence and Chat was afraid to even swallow in case the sound echoed across the rooftops.

"Um," Ladybug finally started, desperate to break the tension between them, "It's okay to briefly entertain the idea of dating someone just to see how you feel about it. You don't have to stick with it if it turns out to be nothing. You can just brush it off as a silly thought." She gulped. "And you're never letting anyone down by thinking like that, whether they like you back or not."

She paused for a moment and gave off a small, strange smile.

"I know that's hard to believe though. Even...even I have trouble with that one."

He looked at her. Really looked. That smile. It was different again. Distant, but pleasantly so. As he watched her a thought started to occur to him. She was thinking about someone when she talked about 'letting someone down.' There was someone in particular that brought to her mind.

His Lady loved someone else.

His ears flattened against his head and his tail coiled around him like he was somehow enveloping himself in a hug. He couldn't let her know how much the revelation affected him. He wouldn't let her feel guilty. And he definitely didn't want her to pity him again.

"Sooo, what you're saying is I should date her?" he asked, glancing away again.

"I'm saying go hang out with her," she chuckled, "See how you feel now that you know you might like her. Don't rush into anything unless you're sure, 'cause not only are you going to confuse yourself, but you might hurt her."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, a small smile reappearing, "Is that what you're doing with this...boy?"

Ladybug's blush was adorable. It brightened up her face to a paler shade than her suit but it was still bright enough that her freckles stood out against it. His smile softened as he gazed at her.

"I-I haven't been brave enough most of the time, to be honest," she admitted.

That surprised him. She was the bravest girl he knew. Surely even out of the suit, she would be ready to take on anything. Seeing his surprised look, she elaborated.

"I guess I was so good at seeing what your mystery girl really meant with all her stuttering and stuff because I'm pretty much the same. I get so nervous around him that I can't talk properly so trying to hang out gets pretty embarrassing very quickly."

A confused feeling circled in his stomach and rose into his throat. He was still tender from the discovery that someone else held her heart but he also desperately wanted to help her, to comfort her. Not to mention the fact that she was so cute when she was embarrassed and gushing. In both a romantic and platonic way. He just wanted to hug her.

"Hey," he said in a soothing voice, "from time to time, just pretend he's someone else. Like one of your friends or me. It'll break up the awkwardness with a bit of normal chit-chat. If you talk to him like you talk to me, he'll be head over heels for you by the end of the week."

She looked at him with a gentle smile for a moment or two before raising herself up on her knees and hugging him tightly. He quickly returned the embrace, sinking his cheek into her soft hair and desperately trying not to cry at the emotional roller-coaster his day had been.

"No wonder she likes you," Ladybug spoke into his ear, "You're a total sweetheart."

He pulled back smiling at her, although his damp eyes clearly betrayed his emotional state to her. She frowned briefly before standing and pulling him up with her, hands grasping his arms to hold herself steady as she reached up on tip toes to place a kiss on his cheek.

"It totally helps that you're cute too," she said, smirking, "Although if you ever mention that again I'll deny ever saying it."

Overwhelmed, he burst into a wave of both happy tears and laughter all at once which definitely helped him sleep once he finally got to bed that night.

* * *

 **Okay, so I've been gone forever. Sorry. I just found the Akuma fight so hard and then I started writing other things and...I just needed a break from this one to be able to come back to it at all. But here is chapter 5, finally.**


	6. Adrien Can't Stop Staring

Okay, so it's been over a year. I have no excuse other than I got excited to write another story, then another and another and this just fell to the side. I'm awful to keep you all waiting. Please have this garbage to tide you over a while.

* * *

 **Adrien Can't Stop Staring**

"Dude! Quit staring!" Nino whisper shouted.

Adrien's eyes snapped back to the boy across from him before they dropped to the lab project on the desk between them, face burning.

This was the third time today his best friend had been forced to remind him not to be so creepy and while the first time had been said with a teasing lilt to his voice, he was sure the good humour Nino had felt was quickly dying.

And yet, he couldn't help himself. His mind was a mess of thoughts from the last two days and Marinette was right there! His position -on the opposite side of the lab counter from Nino and his usual place- gave him the perfect view of the girl's station from here and luckily (or unluckily) she was facing him. It gave him a great opportunity to study her face as she concentrated, tongue stuck out the corner of her mouth and eyebrows tilted.

"You're doing it again," Nino interjected again without looking up, "Dude, I really need this experiment to go well to help raise my grade in this hell class, so can you just pay attention?"

"Sorry," Adrien told him, "But you know why I'm distracted."

"Yeah," said Nino, grinning ridiculously.

* * *

This morning, Adrien had told Nino the abridged version of his inner turmoil over discovering that he might actually like Marinette after all as well as getting confirmation that his "work crush" honestly wasn't interested.

His best friend had comforted him about the latter before exploding into his sacred duty to tease him about the former. The moment Marinette had walked past he'd given him all sorts of meaningful looks and of course, once she'd been out of earshot, he'd been completely merciless and again reminded Adrien about all the winking and suspect comments he'd made since knowing her.

Staring determinedly at the beaker he was pouring liquid into, Adrien desperately tried to ignore his burning face as best he could. He was never going to live this down now, no matter what happened, and he briefly wondered if he should have even told Nino anything.

"Quit it," he told him, breathing a slight sigh of relief when the solution in the beaker changed to the expected colour to indicate he'd added the correct amount of liquid.

"Then quit staaaariiiing," Nino sing-songed at him as he scribbled down the results in his workbook, grinning the whole time.

Yeah, he never should have told Nino.

* * *

The thought returned to Adrien at the end of class in full force.

"Hey, Alya! Marinette!" Nino shouted, much louder than necessary to get their attention as they passed by to leave the lab, "My man here only has one more day to eat with friends before he has to go back to lunch at his big, lonely house for the rest of the week. Mind if we join you two again?"

"Niinooo," Adrien hissed under his breath but found himself silenced by the dismissive wave Nino sent his way.

"Well, we were going to head to Marinette's today," Alya said in response, "but I'm sure her parents wouldn't mind. Right M?"

He watched awkwardly as Marinette turned to look at him, blushing lightly as she gave a shy smile, absent-mindedly brushing a lock of stray hair behind her ear as she did. He was pretty certain she wasn't the only one blushing.

"There's plenty to go around," she said looking up at him through her eyelashes shyly, "If that's, um, okay with you, Adrien?"

"Uh…" He floundered momentarily before he felt Nino harshly bump him from the side, jaw slamming shut in shock and pain. "Yeah," he breathed, "that sounds good." Marinette practically beamed back at him in response and he started to wonder if not all the heat came from the blood rushing to his face, but if maybe instead some radiated from the girl in front of him as she shone as bright as the sun just from his acceptance alone.

The walk to the bakery was a quick one, which as it turned out was something of a mercy. Alya had linked into Nino almost instantly and the two had run off ahead leaving a very clear and obvious gap between themselves and the two hopeless kids behind them, occasional looks thrown over their shoulders at their best friends. Adrien hadn't had the faintest idea where to start trying to initiate a conversation with his friend-turned-admirer and instead had simply stolen glances at the girl beside him as minutes passed in painful silence.

The glances had been somewhat insightful though as every glimpse at her made his stomach flutter and his chest constrict uncomfortably as he noticed her penchant for nervously chewing her lip. Because while he might have felt awkward and uncomfortable, he also felt a great deal of warmth blooming in his chest whenever he spotted her teeth pressing against the tender skin there. There was absolutely no denying that he found it adorable.

As they arrived, Adrien found himself in a new, unexpected kind of hell as Marinette's parents greeted them all, spending an especially long time asking him how he was doing and saying how pleased they were to see him again. Normally he loved this kind of attention, even if it did embarrass him, but now -now that he _knew_ \- it was obviously laced with little smirks and hidden statements meant more to unsettle Marinette and make their approval obvious. He despaired at himself over how he had ever missed any of these clues before. Surely this was worse than their usual fawning over him, wasn't it? Or had it always been this transparent and he was simply the biggest idiot in all of Paris?

" _Maman_!" Marinette had shrieked as she finally pried him away from her parents by the elbow and practically pushed him up the stairs before realising what she was doing and slinking away to stand behind Alya. She didn't reappear until the group had made it inside her living-room and even then, her face remained a tell-tale pink.

"H-Have a seat!" she squeaked at Adrien and Nino as Alya followed her to the kitchen to start looking out lunch foods.

"Hey, Marinette? Do we have a selection?" Nino shouted suddenly, startling the girl into knocking over the fruit bowl on the counter, "'Cause I think my boy here needs you to tell him each one before he can decide."

Glancing over quickly to see that Marinette was distracted picking up the fallen fruit before it bruised, Adrien turned to his best friend with a scowl. "Quit overdoing it!" he hissed, not noticing Marinette freeze as he began to speak, Alya taking over clean-up for her, "I can talk to her myself if you give me _some space_." He also missed how her eyes widened and she dropped what little fruit she had managed to gather up already.

Sensing Marinette's over-reaction coming from a mile away, Alya bumped her arm against her best friend's which quickly snapped her back into startled action. "Soup!" she shouted, frightening Adrien who jumped as he turned back to face her, "Papa made soup! Or we have casserole or quiche. And I could always make sandwiches." Her face dropped to watch her toe scuff against the tiles that made up the kitchen flooring as she suddenly lost her nerve to look Adrien in the eye.

He gulped and ran his hand through his hair, grabbing at the fine hairs at the base of his neck when he reached it, the slight pain a distraction from the awkward atmosphere in the room. "I love quiche," he managed to mumble back at her, "What kind?"

The afternoon got progressively more awkward from there. Marinette managed to muddle up almost everything she said to Adrien and the smiles he gave her in response more closely resembled grimaces as he tried desperately to remember how he was supposed to act around friends. Alya and Nino had eventually taken pity on them and started to engage them in separate discussions on recent extra circulars. Adrien took the distraction gratefully, prattling on about his upcoming fencing tournament and how he would have liked to try other kinds of sword fighting, had he the time.

It worked well most of the time, Adrien forgetting the strange tension in the room between him and the girl on the other side of the table but there were occasions when his words failed him, and he had to be reminded of what he was saying. Because once the girl's conversation had fizzled out, they had decided to listen, and Marinette never stopped looking at him as he spoke. As she watched him, she always appeared to be admiring not just his face, but to be truly enjoying the sound of his voice and everything he said to her. She stared, not like she was just some starstruck fan (although there was definitely a slight element of that as well) but as if he had somehow given her the answers to something important. Like he was telling her, and her alone, a secret which affected the whole universe and their place in it.

It was overwhelming.

The real moment of clarity came when the argument began. Nino had taken a turn talking about what changes he was working on for his latest music mix, playing them a sample, when Alya had made an off-hand comment about not really noticing the difference between his last draft and the one he had just played.

All hell had broken loose as Nino had taken great offence, claiming Alya meant it as a distasteful comment on his abilities as a DJ. Alya, in turn, was annoyed that Nino would actually expect her to make a comment with the intent to upset him. Marinette had intervened, explaining quickly to an angry Nino had Alya and herself weren't as tuned into the differences in music as he was and that he couldn't honestly expect everyone to understand and recognise the minute differences he had made every time he changed something. Adrien had been sure that was the end of it, a smug Alya and a chided Nino going silent - except Marinette then did something amazing.

She turned back to Alya, face full of disappointment, and began to lecture her about being more considerate when talking to people, especially to people she cared about. Alya's grin slipped away the longer Marinette spoke, as she realised she wasn't getting off the hook lightly. Her face took on a remorseful look as her best friend began to finish up before she turned to Nino and apologised for her bluntness.

Adrien simply stared, slack-jawed. He was accustomed to the idea that people should support their friends. If nothing else, it was the moral of pretty much every cartoon and TV show he had ever binged in his life. But Marinette had done something extraordinary when she had defended Alya to Nino. Because she had also ensured Alya knew she had done something wrong. She hadn't defended Alya blindly but instead, she had encouraged Alya to become a better person the next time she found herself in a similar situation, by forcing her to face her own short-comings. With his limited experience with friends, it was something that had never occurred to Adrien before. Chloé certainly wouldn't have appreciated if he had done the same. Yet here was Alya smiling at Marinette in thanks for her intervention.

He continued his awed admiration for a moment before Alya caught sight of him and, making meaningful eye-contact with her best friend, flicked her gaze back to him and away again quickly; an obvious hint to look. Marinette's eyes widened as her head turned stiffly until she met his own and his heart thumped loudly as a dull ache settled in his chest at the contact.

 _Shit_ , he thought suddenly, realisation hitting him like a ton of bricks, _I_ do _like her_.


End file.
